1. Creating Powerful Websites
that Engage Audiences
Michael Slater,
CEO
michael@webvanta.com
888.670.6793
www.webvanta.com

2. Aspects of Website
• Visual design
• Interaction design
• Content structure
• Ticket purchasing
• Donations
• Social media
• Search engine optimization
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3. Technology and User
• In the past few years, the web has become much
more sophisticated
– Visitors expect easy-to-use, engaging sites
– They expect them to work on phones and tablets
– Most 5-year-old designs look dated
• Underlying technology has changed
– Flash no longer recommended, primarily due to iPad
– New opportunities with the latest web technology
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4. Visual and Interaction
• Visual design
– How it looks
– Adapting to changing, diverse content
• Interaction design
– Navigation and browsing interfaces
– Photo and video galleries and slideshows
– Hiding and showing content (tabs, accordions, etc.)
– Ticket purchasing and donations
– Social media and commenting
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5. Content Structure
• Information architecture
– How you structure and organize your content
– How users find what they want (nav, browse, search)
• Design the structure of your content independently
of the pages you will present it on
Performances Events Performers Blog Posts
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6. Building Simple Websites
• Create each page using a web authoring tool
– Software you install, such as dreamweaver
– Hosted service with browser-based tools, such as
SquareSpace or Weebly
• Problems with this approach
– Time-consuming to add pages
– Doesn’t provide features like blog, calendar, database
– Hard to maintain consistency and preserve design
integrity
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7. A Better Way: DB-Driven
• A single “performance” page can serve for all
performances
• The database stores all the details about each
performance
– Your staff enters the information into a form
– No need for technical skills
– No concern for page layout or styling when entering
information
• Layout and styling determined by the single template page
– Painless consistency
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13. Many Ways to Connect
Website
Mobile Site
Database of
Admin
performances
Mobile App
Social Media
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14. Media
• Photos
– Easy to include throughout site
– Display as banners, slideshows, galleries
– Associate with artists, performances, facilities
• Videos
– Host on YouTube or Vimeo
– Embed on your site
– Organize using the database
• Audio
– Can be hosted on your site, with embedded player
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16. Ticket Purchasing
• Use a service focused on this function
– AudienceView, Veritix provide features needed for
reserved seating, etc.
– Brown Paper Tickets, EventBrite for low cost
• A link to purchase tickets is stored in the site’s
database and turned into a button on your site
• Ticketing service will style its pages (more or less) to
look like your website
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19. Taking Donations
• May be handled by ticket purchasing system
• Can easily accept donations via PayPal
– One-time
– Monthly (subscription)
• Consider how you are going to do follow-ups to
donors
– Customer relationship management (CRM) system
– Ticketing special offers
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21. Integrating Social Media
• Link to your Facebook and Twitter pages
• Make it easy for people to share your pages with share
buttons
• Include Facebook “Like” widget to make it easy for them
to like you on Facebook
• Blog posts can be automatically posted to Facebook
and Twitter
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22. Search Engine
• You want to show up prominently in search results
– The art and science of getting there is called SEO
• On-page optimization
– Build the site using best-practice technology, coding, writing
• Off-page optimization (link building and social media)
– Get lots of links from well-ranked sites covering related topics
• Achieving a great SEO position takes an investment and
some time (commit to a 6-12 month plan)
– Once you get there, your site gets lots of free traffic
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23. Choosing a Content
• Lots of choices, so focus on type first
– Software you maintain, on a server you rent space on
• Open Source, such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal
• Commercial, such as ExpressionEngine
– Hosted services provide CMS as a managed service
• Provider handles all the software maintenance, server admin, backups, etc.
• Fewer hassles and lower cost in the long run
• Simple sites: WordPress.com, SquareSpace, Weebly, Wix, LightCMS
• Sophisticated sites: Webvanta, Agility, Limelight, Vae Platform
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24. Project Management
• The heart of a website project is the content
– Be sure you have the resources to collect, manage, and
maintain it all
• Consider outsourcing the writing and collecting of
images, videos, etc.
• Make sure staff is trained in how to add and change
website content
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25. Don’t Neglect Mobile!
• Web access from smartphones is exploding
– Restaurants seeing 30% mobile traffic
• Tipping points are close, within 1-2 years:
– More than half of all phones sold in U.S. will be
smartphones
– More than half of web traffic for entertainment and
hospitality sites will come from mobile devices
• Requires modest additional investment
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26. Tablets Are Semi-Mobile
• Tablets use mobile browsers and touch-based
interfaces
– But are more often used at home
• 10” tablets have desktop-like screen size
– Minor adjustments to desktop site
• 7” tablets are small for desktop site
– May do better with mobile site
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27. Do You Need a Mobile
• Your own mobile app is a great way to connect with
your most dedicated fans
• Provides a semi-permanent place on user’s phone
• Can use the same content as the website
• Multiple platforms to consider supporting
– iPhone/iPad, Android, Windows Mobile
– Phones and tablets
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28. Getting Your Site Built
• Two major services: design and development
– May come from the same or different suppliers
– A quality site is a team effort
– Overall project management is also critical
• Freelancers are least expensive and can be great if
you find the right person
• Web agencies bring a team, and typically a higher
level of sophistication and experience
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29. Getting Started
• Unless you have an expert as part of your team, find
a consultant to work with you to define needs
• Once you have a document that clearly describes
what you need, get proposals
• Be sure you are getting the level of strategy,
technology, and project management you need, in
addition to design
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30. We’d Be Glad to Help!
• Webvanta offers strategy, specification, and site-
building services
• We’ve partnered with Athena Web Design to provide
visual and interaction design for performing arts
sites
• Call Justin at 888.670.6793 ext. 4
– Or email sales@webvanta.com
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